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Students Occupy Department Of Finance

Unfortunate student gets an education on how Irish Democracy works Copyright by Mark Moloney

News is coming in that upwards of thirty students have occupied the Department of Finance in the centre of Dublin with several hundred supporting them in the streets outside. Tens of thousands of students are demonstrating as part of the USI protests against plans to introduce fees, these students carrying out the occupation appear to have broken away from the main demonstration which is taking place around the corner in Merrion square.

USI President Gary Redmond has condemned the protesters but he did not condemn the violence from the Gardai. However Gary Redmond is known member of the Fianna Fáil party, the same party that lead this country to ruin and which is now stripping it bare whilst leaving the culprits completely untouched.

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Just got 3 seperate phone calls from the protest. Garda have baton charged at least three times and horse are running amok. At least two people are bleeding from head wounds and others have been arrested. Estimates of 300-500 people versus large number of cops. Apparently van loads of cops are descending on the area.

Well done to the students who have the courage to take this fuckin bollox of a fascist government
to task , then we have ' the pigs ' who 'say' they are being hard done by , boo fuckin hoo hoo .

On a more serious note let us hope some of these students someday will study law and hold a
grudge against the pigs , the same way a lot of judges held a grudge against the banks when they
were studying law and in came the banksters many years later looking for their kilo of flesh from
some some poor unfortunate only to be told to fuck off , in legal terms of course My Dear Fellow;

IT reporting that USI leadership condemns occupation and disturbances as 'anti-social' behaviour and condemns participants. No mention in statement of mounted gardai, riot squad and being forced to re-route rally away from the front of the Dail.

PRESS RELEASE: A statement regarding events today at the Dept. of Finance.

Students from Free Education for Everyone (NUI Maynooth, NUI Galway) and the Students in Solidarity Network (University College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin) issued a call for a clearly visible left-wing presence on today’s demonstration against the re-introduction of third level fees, in the form of a registration fee increase or otherwise. This call was answered by student activists from a range of political organisations, including the Socialist Workers Party, Socialist Party, Workers Solidarity Movement, éirigí, the 32 CSM and others. For the most part however, the call was answered by independent students.

Up to 1,000 students joined our breakaway at Kildare Street, staging a short sit down protest outside the home of the corrupt and unaccountable political establishment of this state. Recognising the futility of marching from A to B and listening to the same speeches from aspiring politicians, many of these students joined us in marching to the Department of Finance where a sit in demonstration was held. It is the Department of Finance which is attacking ordinary working people with such vigour in recent times, and this occupation was symbolic of the anger of students and the Irish public.

We are not the “anti- social, hooligan element of the student movement,” rather today we showed that we are perfectly in touch with the anger felt by the student body. The sight of thousands of students outside, cheering on the direct action showed the positive effect such direct action can have on the Irish student movement. Such actions, we believe, are a necessary step forward. This government wish to attack education, public services and working people and this must be resisted.

There was no act of violence carried out by those protesting at the Department, and any violence outside was instigated by the inept response of the Gardai. Students sitting on the road in protest were baton charged repeatedly by Gardaí, with many suffering injuries. One female student was knocked unconscious during the assault on the crowd, and other students clearly displayed head injuries. “The Gardaí rushed the crowd on numerous occasions, including spectators on the street. The crowd, which at this point had swelled up to 2,000 students with many from the main demonstration joining us, vented their anger at the response of the Gardaí who had begun encircling them” said Lorcan Myles, a Free Education for Everyone activist who witnessed the events. We make no apologies for the direct action taken.

Ultimately, events like today’s will happen in a society where people are under constant attack from the political establishment. The arrests and attacks carried out on students today will not deter the movement.

ENDS.

Free Education for Everyone and The Students In Solidarity Network are independent student grassroots campaigns active in numerous Irish third level institutions. Previous protests have included resisting the appointment of Bertie Ahern T.D by NUI Maynooth as an Honorary Professor, opposing numerous TD’s visits to various campuses including Belfield and NUI Galway and building broad student support for a left wing and grassroots student movement.

The Union of Students of Ireland, which organised the protest, distanced itself from those who occupied the Department of Finance.

"USI is saddened by the actions of a small minority of people who staged a sit-in protest at the Dept of Finance, shortly after the USI protest march today. This anti-social behaviour was completely separate from USI’s demo," it said in a statement.

Even by RTE standards, the radio bulletin now at 6pm is incredible. No mention of student injuries, even though I saw an unconscious student being carried to an ambulance. And I personally met five people with injuries. No mention of riot police and horses being used against students.
I know we hate Liveline, but if they're doing this story tomorrow, everyone ring in with eyewitness reports and say how the media coverage was apparently done by people who were at a different event.

Typical, USI regard an occupation and sit-down protest as being 'anti-social behaviour' and totally ignore violence from the Gardai. USI themselves have been involved in occupations before. Their main problem is that they think they should have a monopoly on student activism.

welcome to the real world students! there is no tooth fairy and the media lie blatantly to serve their masters interests. Maybe those rossport supporters WERE telling the truth after all and maybe you lot should have been using your education to write newspaper articles and get out on the streets about lots of other stuff in greater numbers before now instead of drinking yourselves into oblivion, while waiting to get a well paid cushy job. But it seems it's only fees you lot care about. Enjoy your growing awareness of how things work in this country. Because thats a REAL education for free! The french students are so much more clued in and deserving of respect.

One thing that should be highlighted about today's march was how it showed how strong a force the Left can be when it unites. The Left Bloc today provided an image of the Left as a real strong force re-emerging in Irish society. Its about bloody time too. Lets hope the new United Left Alliance will continue in this manner. Its vital that there is a strong force organised to the left of the Labour Party both in the colleges and in the community to contrast their policies with real left wing alternatives that don't sell out working class people. Today seeing members of the SP, SWP and WSM, among others stand together provides hope that the left may be starting to realise that several splinter groups on the left do not resonate enough with working class people. Well done to the Left Bloc today and all of those who participated in the demo.

When news spread about the occupation, some of their members did travel up to Merrion Row. When they arrived, I heard some of them vocally criticising the students who decided to occupy the Dept. of Finance.

32CSM, OSF, SWP, WSM, Eirigi and independent left wing students made up the Left Bloc. About 250 people.

2,000+ students joined their break away march and staged a sit down protest outside the Dept. of Finance. These were brutally beaten off the streets by police using dogs, horses and batons.

Absolutely right, the vast majority of them are only concerned with number one - getting legless and climbing the greasy pole are their major objectives. ,When I was a student, my student 'comrades' were as reactionary as u could get. The USI are a joke and why anyone takes them seriously is mystery, just another bunch of careerists. That DOES NOT mean that I am not as disgusted as anyone else at the RTE 'coverage'.

I hope everyone who attended the protest is ok. Fair play, it is good to see people getting (finally) organized....We should get ready and prepared for next while, how to organize better, how to protect each others in the crowd, how to deal with gardai violence, support each other...
Any news about those who were arrested and injured?

Please forward this email to the President of USI, Gary Redmond. I note his contact details are not available on your website.

To Gary Redmond,

I am currently a part-time student, paying fees in NUI Maynooth. I am also a full time worker.

I am writing to express my disgust at your statement below:

From The Irishtimes online:

"USI is saddened by the actions of a small minority of people who staged a sit-in protest at the Dept of Finance, shortly after the USI protest march today. This anti-social behaviour was completely separate from USI’s demo,"

In 2002 I was studying for my undergrad in UCD. As you are probably too young to remember, let me remind you that this was the last big battle against Third Level fees. I was not in a position back then to choose whether or not to fight the reintroduction of fees, it was a necessity. Without free education I would have been forced out of education.

I got involved in the student movement then, and despite not ever having been involved as an elected representative of a students union, I ended up on USI actions against the fees.

You may be interested to know that on Tuesday 20th May 2003, I went along with members of USI officer board, and other active students, to occupy the then Department of Social, Family and Community Affairs. This was organised by USI. We went from there to lock-on to the gates of the Dail at around lunchtime(also organised by USI). From there, having dutifully promised the Gardai we would go home and behave ourselves, we went to the Department of Transport and occupied it, overnight. All of these actions were carried out by USI with the Campaign for Free Education (same type organisation as FEE). Do the actions of previous USI officer boards also “sadden” you? Was that also “Anti-social” behaviour?

I will take an educated guess that you have never been on a protest where the Gardai have assaulted the crowd before. Let me tell you that in the last 10 years I have been on roughly 15 of such type protests and never once have I seen a protestor start the violence. I have seen Gardai beat and assault people from the ages of 13 to those in their late 70s, all on what were peaceful protests before Gardai arrived in numbers.

Condemn the Gardai for their brutality, not your members for their bravery.

I am aware that you are young, but if you are naïve to go with it, you should at least have the respect for your members to resign. You are a disgrace to your office. Resign.

You can buy riot suits, sheilds, helmits etc. off the net for fairly reasonable prices. Perhaps it would be an idea to equip stewards with them in future to help defend people from this sort of brutality.

This was a protest to be proud of. People stood their ground, held the fort and gave an example of courage that for someone like me, who usually complains of the subdued attitude in which the crisis has been accepted by the ordinary folk, was very dear. Different leftists united on struggle, republicans, socialists, anarchists, together with hundreds and thousands of students with no particular political allegiance, but who certainly got a good eye opener as to how the State will move its forces to crush protest. This was a taster of what is to come: certainly, the State wanted to display its brutal strength and show to what extents its dogs in uniform are willing to go in order to shut us up. Their violence should encourage us to come up with greater resolve next protest. They savagely and cowardly broke heads, noses, beaten people up, pulled hair, punched, kicked, yelled abuse, but they did not break the will of the students who stuck together to the very last. Hopefully, this is also a taster of the courage our people needs to display after the criminal budget is anounced. This courage, this unity, this will to struggle will be most needed.

And that sod Gary Redmond from USI should be confronted, deauthorized and kicked out of office -though he just shows his true colours and those of the government he represents, for let us not forget, he only represents the government, not the students.

Last but not least -many of us have something to say in relation to police brutality... wouldn't it be important to collect individual stories and cases, maybe through indymedia, sending each of us different stories here, so this is not forgotten or distorted through the media lens?

you can see all hidden posts here
http://lists.indymedia.org/pipermail/imc-ireland-newswire/

Generally if you are not trying to stir it (trolling)
don't make "are you still beating your wife" type poisoned posts
don't make allegations without substantiating them
don't try to muddy and derail otherwise constructive threads
don't start sectarian political bickering
and don't abuse other posters
then you should be ok

Sorry, forgot to add....
Because we tend to get a lot of wanton abuse from, how shall I put it erm..."dickheads and nutcases" around here, It is our site policy that we immediately delete any posts that make comments about editorial actions / decisions..

People are free to join our mailing lists and discuss such matters rationally there rather than derailing otherwise productive discussions on the site.

If you make a reasonable case then such decisions can often be reversed if you can persuade other site moderators that your post adhered to our guidelines and it was hidden in error

The WSM condemns in the strongest terms the police violence* against students on Dublin's Merrion Row earlier this afternoon. Several members of the organisation where present with almost 1000 others in support of those who entered and occupied the Department of Finance. Mark Malone, student and member of the WSM, present at the protests earlier today said.

“I witnessed masked men in padded clothing beat a woman around the head with a baton. She was so scared she couldn’t move even as they shouted at her to do so. My friends and I helped her away from where the police where hitting people. The police refused to listen to our calls for medical attention and instead pushed me on top of this woman using a large plastic shield. This was only one of many instances of brutality. I also saw police punch, kick, drag and throw to the ground the people who occupied the Department of Finance.[1]. It was clear to everyone that the police decided to intimidate and physically assault us. The low number of arrests compared to the very high level of injuries suggest that this was a tactic decided at a high level. It was as if the police wanted to provoke a violent response from us. All we could do was try to defend ourselves and each other from these thugs.” [2]

“While several WSM members where present in the demo, other members watched from the vantage point of our office window which directly overlooked the scene. We witnessed many injuries as a result of police violence, mostly unprovoked batoning, but also the use of the edges of riot shields to dig into people. We witnessed police horses being run directly into a mass crowd, we saw women and men sitting on the ground, beaten with lumps of stick the police call “batons”. We witnessed police dogs being reared into the crowd as people shouted “peaceful protest”. I heard the police swear and verbally threaten students, one saying they would “knock the fucking shit” out of me if I didn't move.”

Malone continued
“The government chooses to target students, much in the way they target the sick, unemployed and marginalised because they think we are an easy touch. The government talks about the value of education and a knowledge economy, whilst at the same time introducing measures that mean access to education will price the poor, jobless and precarious out of education. It is ridiculous to even call these registration fees. How can it cost over €1500 to register for anything, now this is set to rise to €3000. This government has lost legitimacy since in reality it is the IMF and ECB, and the faceless rich of the “markets” who now dictate policy. This is not just an economic crisis, it is a crisis of democracy as we can clearly see the structures of power at play.”

“What we witnessed today was the policing of fear, the deliberate use of state violence to discourage acts of protest and civil disobedience. We have seen the usual attempt to divide people into good protesters and bad protesters. We reject the statement of the USI leadership as ill-informed, short-sighted and reactionary. Perhaps if they look at the bloodied faces and bruised bodies as footage comes in we will hear a full retraction of the previous statement. The false divide of good/bad protester will not fool the 100's of thousands of people across the country who now suffer lower quality healthcare, education, workplace security and wages and will do so for at least a decade.”

“These fee rises are completely unneeded.” Malone continued, “Why not set a maximum personal income of €150,000 , for example. Tax the rest at 100% and use it to pay for a quality of life for the vast majority , instead of cutting public services that we use and need as human beings. Who can seriously say they need more than that to live on. Or why not use the billions of Euros of oil and gas off the coast of Ireland . The government says they have no options. Perhaps if they listened to us instead of beating us up, we all might actually move towards a more just and equal society”.

Malone concluded “We need to stand together in this period of attack on our quality of life and futures. Why should we pay for the greed of a rich gambling elite? What is clear today is that like elsewhere around Europe and the rest of the world, police repression will be used by the state to try and make our movements for social justice and equality fearful and less open and effective. We should meet this aggression head on with our solidarity and desire for genuine democracy – be that in our educational institutions, in our communities or in our workplaces. Our taxes may be used pay the wages of men in masks and sticks. But we won't be intimidated and beaten off the streets where we live, where we work or where we choose to make our demands and desires visible.”

I hope she is ok.
They don't care at all who they hit or how hard any more do they?. In my day you could not hit a woman. seems like times have changed A LOT!!

They are trying to blame the violence on left parties but left parties don't wield batons and wear garda uniforms and ride horses and have vicious attack dogs on leashes. It was a student protest and students are members of lots of different organisations. Fact is, there were probably plenty of (very disillusioned!) Fianna Fail voters in the crowd too. The spin machine is unbelievable. They even have their professional toadies posting misinformation across all the popular sites.Watch out for them.

Having been beaten,held in an illegal "choke hold" and arrested myself (the charges laid against me were later thrown out of court)and having witnessed other peaceful protesters (including women and elderly) receive the same treatment from the guardians of the state, only to have the garda ombudsman refuse to hear or act on their complaints I can say it is you who does not know what you are talking about.Thats not red paint on peoples heads or on the pavement today, but don't let the facts get in the way of a good rant!!Using foul language doesn't impress anyone either it just shows insecurity.

This reads like a Garda Press Release instead of an independent report of what happened....as usual.

Violent clashes at student protest

THE LARGEST student protest in a generation was marred yesterday by violent clashes in which bricks, beer cans, eggs and placards were hurled at gardaí.

The Union of Students in Ireland (USI), which mobilised over 25,000 for the protest, distanced itself from a group of breakaway protesters involved in clashes outside the Department of Finance on Merrion Street, Dublin.

The USI blamed “left-wing” groups for the “destructive and anti-social violence” which it said would only divert attention from its campaign against higher student fees.

Supporters of Sinn Féin, the Socialist Workers Party and republican socialist group Éirígí were prominent among about 50 protesters who made it inside the Finance building, only to be swiftly ejected by gardaí.

Gardaí in riot gear drew their batons and mounted officers were deployed during clashes with several youths that lasted about 45 minutes.

Some protesters suffered cuts to the head and bloody noses during the scuffles.

One garda was admitted to hospital with a broken nose, while two others were treated at the scene for minor injuries.

There were three arrests. The suspects were taken to Pearse Street Garda station, and one had been released without charge last night. The other two were charged with criminal damage and breach of the peace offences and released.

Gardaí believe a core of “militant and aggressive” protesters not connected with the USI had hijacked the event.

I was afraid that this would happen to you brave young people, you are being used as a warning to the public in general to deter protest of any kind against the government.
You are being demonised by the Fianna Fail controlled media as agitators and subversives just like the people of Rossport.
It is Fianna Fail that have turned the Gardai into an assault force and their thugery knows no bounds. Their training started at Bellanaboy CO Mayo to facillitate the treasonous givaway of our natural resources to SHell. They have also been training with the Army.
The Government and their wealthy friends have been protected and they do not care if the IMF take over because they are waiting to buy up the semi state companies that the IMF will force the state to sell. Bertie Aherne is chairman of Helvetia Wealth a Swiss company waiting to buy up our forrests for example.
Any future protests should be aware that the Gardai are working for the Government and not for the welfare of the Irish people. Remember that it is Fianna Fail that are sending these thugs to assault you.
YOU ARE IRELANDS FUTURE so be strong and don't give in to their corruption but do campaign with intelligence and protect yourselves from harm.

Respect to the students protesters and left wing groups, needed to happen but once again the reactionary forces of this nama Republic show their true colours, Shame.
Gary Redmond the student prince is way out of order, since when did he join Fianna Fail as he had been with Labour in Wicklow for a long time

..is on the button.But you never mentioned the fact that the Gardai have considerable input from FBI trainers and overseers, just as the army are being acclimatised to NATO liaison operations and the American Chamber of Commerce has been insinuated into our economic life as purveyors of the economically correct 'line'(Chicago Boys and Milton Freidman wrecking crew sabateurs).

Too many are still chasing the britannic scarecrow and have not noticed that our imperial dominance has largely crossed the pond, particulary under the steerage of the corporate funded PDs(Boston uber Berlin, laissez faire ahead of rationally managed commerce) who came in to clean up the CJH stabes(well they did CLEAN UP).

Student march: timeline of events
by Union of Students in Ireland (USI) on Thursday, 04 November 2010 at 05:14

1pm:
The march began at Parnell Square. Gardaí have estimated the crowd at 15,000, whereas the Union of Students in Ireland put the figure at over 40,000.
1.40pm:
A small group departed early from the march route along Nassau Street and went straight to the front gates of the Dáil on Kildare Street [MAP 4], where some protesters climbed poles and threw plastic bottles and cans over the front gate of Leinster House. Socialist Workers Party flags were visible within the group. The march organisers quickly pushed them on and reunited them with the main marching body.
2.55pm:
A man not dressed in official student protest clothing with a megaphone urged the main group, gathering at Merrion Square, to come down to the Department of Finance building around the corner. A rush of people followed.
3pm:
A group of about 40 entered the lobby of the building . Gardaí managed to remove close to half of these and were then forced to barricade in the remaining 20. A group of several hundred now gathered outside the building, with a line of gardaí at the entrance between them and the protesters trapped inside. There were numerous Socialist Workers Party and Éirígí flags in the crowd. A brick was thrown at the wall of the building, along with bottles, cans and signs at the gardaí.
3.05pm:
A Garda horseback unit and three vans arrived outside the building, dividing the group outside in half. The protesters began a sit-down protest in front of the horseback unit.
3.10pm:
Gardaí in full riot gear arrived and took up position between the other gardaí and protesters. The gardaí began removing protesters they had previously trapped in the lobby. There were physical altercations between them and a female garda was struck. Some of the protesters exited with evidence of a beating on their faces.
3.15pm:
The last protester left inside was brought out. The riot squad pushed forward against the crowd and created some space around the entrance.
3.15-3.35pm:
Slowly the protesters were moved back under continuing pressure. One garda on horseback was seen bleeding from the lip.
3.35pm:
Riot police charged, followed by the unit on horseback, and pushed the entire crowd back to a spot adjacent to the Shelbourne Hotel . Several gardaí with dogs were also present.
3.40pm:
There was another riot police charge along with the unit on horseback, which drove the protest back to a spot beside Anglo Irish Bank.
Gardaí then continued to move and disperse those who were left among the crowd.
3.50pm:
The remnants of the crowd outside the Department of Finance building joined a sit-down protest outside the gates of Leinster House , bringing the total there to about 300 protesters.
4.10pm:
Following the conclusion of the sit-down protest, which ended without incident, a member of the Free Education for Everyone organisation announced they would be marching to Pearse Street Garda station, where they believed several arrested protesters had been brought.
4.25pm:
The group of less than 30 protesters arrived outside the Pearse Street Garda station, where eight gardaí waited at the entrance. The protesters stood outside and chanted slogans calling for the students’ release.

Well, Mr 'Reasonable', the vast majority of the population are NOT RESPONSIBLE for the debts of financial speculators, and 'developers', if any capitalist speculates and then fails to accumulate, that's their problem. They go into liquidation. They don't pass the bill to any other group(s) in society, with the assistance of our 'government'. In such a small country, the political class and the 'business community' are closely linked. Anglo Irish Bank should never have been in receipt of any guarantee. It was simply a financial vehicle for 'developers'.

anticuts.org.uk is an interactive site. In itself its just a series of lists and links. These join the dots between the hundreds of anti-cuts groups and protests that have emerged since the Tory spending review on October 20th. What happens with these links is up to you.

The site allows you to find your local anticuts groups and protests. Find them and get involved.

It also facilitates the promotion of events via social networking. You can help promote your local protest with a few clicks. For example, if you have a facebook page and share the details of a local protest on your wall, your friends will also find out about the protest. Some might have a dig, others will support the protest. Some will want to attend and share the event themselves on their own facebook walls… and on it goes.

The site also features the UK Anticuts Protest List - a diary of almost all anticuts protests and public meetings in the UK over the coming weeks and months. C & P it to your mailing lists, blogs and websites.

Fair play to everyone involved...it's quite inspiring. I was on the march but unfortunately managed to completely miss all of this.
For what it's worth, I've sent this to USI and UCD students union...

To the President of the Union of Students of Ireland,

I am a student in UCD and hence a fee-paying member of the UCD Students Union and the USI.

Yesterday saw one of the largest demonstrations in the last few years and certainly which I've ever been on, with over 40,000 students out on the streets, and I'm proud to have joined so many fellow students in attempting to prevent the introduction or raising of higher college fees in any guise.

I am appalled, however, by USI's decision to condemn the section of the march who attempted to further press the point home through peaceful direct action. In addition to failing in your task of representing the student body, you allowed the media to completely reframe the events as 'anti-social behaviour' as opposed to the legitimate expression of protest which it was.

The aim of yesterday's protest, whether through marching, speechifying or direct action, was to make it clear to the government that any attempt to introduce new fees would be met with staunch resistance from the student body. The reason for protest, as UCDSU officers and campaign t-shirts pointed out, is that the introduction of further fees will cause a large number of students to drop out and impose serious financial hardship on those who manage to stay in third-level education. In addition, it will seriously restrict the opportunity for many to even enter Third-Level education in the first place.

While as a paid union officer you may be cushioned from the impact of these, students are absolutely legitimate in taking loud and direct action in order to prevent the profound negative effect this would have on our opportunities, our rights and the likelihood that we will be able to do anything other than sit on the dole for the next several years; students are legitimate in having concerns, to put it mildly, that the government may simply ignore the march as long as they believe that the USI will simply lie down and accept it if the decision does not go their way; students are legitimate in believing that the serious impacts that this decision will have on their family, whether their brothers and sisters, their nephews and nieces, or their own kids, require that we use more tactics than simply making speeches at the wrong side of the Dail.

Regardless of your own tactical preferences, however, your job as representative of the student body is to ensure that the message about fees is heard loud and clear by the government. Your response to media questions should have been: horror and outrage at needless violence of the Gardai; pride at the huge numbers who turned out; and a reinforcement of just how angry students are about these proposed fees, the hardship it will cause and the disastrous effects it will have on the economic future. This would have forced the media to, at the very least, quote the issues and give an accurate account of the turnout in their reports. Instead you chose to make yourself complicit in their reframing of the entire protest as mere 'anti-social behaviour', all the while with an eye on your future career as an aspiring politician.

Apart from media ineptness, your media reponse displayed a complete failure to do what you are paid to do, which is to represent your students. Yesterday, some of those students engaged in a peaceful protest and were violently beaten by Gardai, many students were injured and some were violently battered into unconsciouness. Instead of standing up for those students, you asserted the right of the Gardai to assault them, portraying the victim of abuse as the perpetrator. I find this absolutely disgusting. You have no place as a student representative if, even worse than being blind to instances of such abuse, you actively condone them.

At any other time, you would owe to those students, and to the entire student body, an outright and sincere apology.

With mere weeks before the possible reintroduction of fees, such self-interested political wrangling, media naivete and moral duplicitousness demands nothing short of your outright removal from office, by resignation or otherwise..

whatever gripes we have with govt this foprm of protest is not the way forward the ballot box is the only way to go. this form of violent protest and anarchy is exactly what Eirigi would have us all do and as bad an all as things are, if in some imaginary planet in an alternate universe they ever get in to power god help us all they would have us back in a state like that of russia in the 50's

Irishman You have to be a fianna fail man because every other Irish citizen Knows that the government have no intention to let us near a ballot box. You accuse the students of violence when it is perfectly obvious that it was the Gardai who were violent..
Would you ever get your backside examined because it is obvious your brain is clogged.
To those students that were assaulted = complaining to the ombudsdman is futile because his findings are subject to the approval of Dermot Aherne the man that sent the thugs to assault you. He has been told repeatedly by Shell to Sea that the Gardai are deliberately not wearing identification when they intend to show the public what big brave men they are.
EVERY DAY WE LEARN A LITTLE MORE ABOUT FIANNA FAIL CORRUPTION but we still are only at the starting point.

Once again we see the officers of the Union of Students in Ireland claim to be the Union of Students in Ireland.

The language of the above "timeline" that a man with a megaphone not dressed in offical Union clothing urged the crowd to move shows the officer boards perception that they alone have a monopoly over what happens at a protest and that they alone have the neccesary "wisdom" and "training" to deal with and control the mere mortals who turn up to THEIR protest. This is nothing new. This is history repeating itself only this time it made the headlines in a big way.

I must offer my full and wholehearted support and solidarity to those who took a stand on Wednesday and decided to make a real effort to force the Government to sit up and take notice rather then walking from A to B and listening to members of Government parties condem Government parties.

As someone who is no longer a student some may say I have no right to comment on this issue however what I would urge all those involved in Wednesday's direct action and those who condemned it to do is glance back through the archives of this very site and see that 7 years ago we fought the same fight for a right to legitimate protest and to wrestle the monopoly over who decides what people do, of their own free will, at protests from the hands of officer board. Unfortunatly I'm around long enough to remember a UCDSU president saying that students beaten up at a peaceful demonstration "got what they deserved" and "should have been at home studying for their exams". The actions and comments of USI officers and others who have condemned the peaceful and direct protests of a large group of students does nothing to strengthen the movement and hands both the Government and media the ace up its' sleave it needs to vilify student protest and to divide and conquer.

Just a dusting of foresight is needed among the elected officers to see that once you're elected you have a duty to stand behind those you represent and not carry a large knife to stab them with!

A lesson from the past however which may stand as some ray of hope to those who wish to see a respect for diversity of tactics and a student movement that prides itself on being willing to take direct action, it was those students who maintained and stood by these principles who ulitimatly succeeded in winning over the student body and dragging both USI and UCDSU to a place where as Caoimhe mentioned above Direct actions against Government buildings and representatives became the normal language and tactics of the day.

Those who seek to "serve" students for their own ends should have no place in USI and it is right for those who see the alternative to self organise and bring the student movement with them. For the Gary Redmonds of this world, they should resign.

Russia in the fifties?
The current crew are taking us to a choice between Germany in the twenties and Her Majesty's realm in the 1840s. And they've trained OUR Gardai as their buffer, thin blue line of brownshirt/redcoat eviction squads as they bail the speculator for full value but hold the magnified and bloated mortgage over the heads of the dupes who just wanted to house themselves and their kids.
Violence?To paraphrase an old song, you can kill a damn sight more people with a stroke of the pen than with a sixgun. Or as in modern terminology, a keyboard. All this Quantitive Easing is just printing cyber-money in their board-game. Lets see how long it takes for the inflationary fireball to go Weimar. It wont be overnight, but its not the first time the apprentices burnt their fingers while the sorcerer was away.
Kenny&Gilmore will just be slightly more plausible, for a while.

They wont even hold a fucking election.And the 'opposition' are happy with that, or it would not have taken Sinn Fein to bring the by-election issue to court. Now, joke of jokes, FG are following their lead to try and scramble back to looking as if they have clue.

Todays News?
Let them eat surplus cheese till they replenish our greedfest. Back to Indian meal as the cream continues to be exported for the corporate extractors.
Not so much eirigi as fucking duisigi.

Around 25,000 people took to the streets of the capital yesterday to protest against the possibility of the reintroduction of fees for third level education in December’s Twenty-Six County budget.

Mac An Mhaistír said: “The coverage of yesterday’s demonstration and the comments of many prominent individuals have completely ignored the violent actions of the Garda, of which there is plentiful evidence.

“Blood flowed on the streets of Dublin yesterday as a result of Garda baton charges, yet the corporate media and establishment politicians have chosen to focus solely on the actions and alleged actions of students.

“What we witnessed in Dublin was the complete inability of the Garda, particularly its Public Order Unit, to deal with any form of protest that is not completely submissive. This has been seen before, in Rossport and elsewhere, where acts of peaceful civil disobedience have been met with violence on the part of the Gardaí.”

Mac An Mhaistír also dismissed claims that éirígí was somehow involved in ‘hijacking’ yesterday’s demonstration.

“éirígí activists, among them students and people from the teaching profession, took part in yesterday’s demonstration as an act of solidarity and in support of the demands for a free and fair education system. To suggest otherwise is a ludicrous act of scaremongering and one that is completely without foundation.”

Mac An Mhaistír continued: “Education, including further and third level education, is a right that should be universally available to all citizens free of charge. The reintroduction of fees, even means tested ones, would be a regressive step towards an education system that, at its higher echelons, provides only for the wealthy in society. This cannot be allowed to happen.”

The 32csm in Dublin would like to congratulate all the students and activists who joined in the protest on November 3rd against the increase in registration fees. The 32csm were involved in the last campaign to oppose the introduction of fees and we have continuously lent support to students. The march on Wednesday was to show not only the anger that exists amongst students, already struggling in many cases to make ends meet, but also the frustration amongst activists with their representatives in the USI.

Our members joined the independent left wing bloc at the invite of Free Education for Everyone and Students in Solidarity. These students felt like us that a march without action would achieve little and that self serving speeches made by USI representatives with close links to Fianna Fail were not the true voice of the student movement. It was because of this discontent that students bravely broke away in large numbers from the main march to march to the gates of Leinster House to express their anger. The 32csm, eirigi, and the SWP amongst others joined the Students in Solidarity rather than in any attempt to hijack the protest. The reality is that the independent student bloc was organised by and for students who wished to have their voices heard.

Given that the 32csm Dublin branch has several members in third level education it was imperative for us to support such actions. The march then moved onto the Department of Finance where a large group of protestors including ten members of the 32csm managed to break through garda lines and occupied the building. At no point during the occupation did any official from either the department or the gardai approach the students to ask them what their grievances were. Instead the gardai aggressively manhandled protestors both inside and outside until the riot squad showed up. At that point protestors were thrown from the building whilst the gardai punched and kicked them. 32csm members fought back along with our republican and left wing comrades and the solidarity shown in the face of garda brutality was an example that should be followed in the future.

We would like to make clear however that the violence that did occur was initiated by the gardai who attacked a peaceful sit down protest with batons, before charging on horseback into the middle of a crowd of students, many of whom were already injured from earlier garda attacks. Responsibility for the violence lies with the gardai and with USI who by their lack of support for the action ensured that students would not have sufficient numbers to withstand the attacks.

The 32csm opposes the proposed increase in registration fees because we recognize that this is merely third level fees being introduced by stealth; we oppose it because it is another attack by this government on the vulnerable whilst the rich are protected. The neo liberal agenda that is behind such moves will be fought at every turn by the 32csm and we will not be dissuaded by any number of garda batons or media distortions. ictory to the students and workers!

Well done to all students who did what badly needs doing at this time.

As a wrinkly I was a student in Carysfort '71-'73 where I learnt some very useful lessons in media spin and political opportunism.
While there, the first strike by students took place in that Training College run by the Sisters of (no) Mercy; it arose from a series of issues which were unacceptable to people who would, after two years in that institution, find themselves in positions of responsibility
for children but who were being treated as children themselves.

The media chose to portray the strike simply as 'they want to wear mini skirts' (all skirts had to be knee length!) and had no interest then, as now, in analysing the conditions which led to the strike.

At the same time there was an election ongoing for presidency of the Student Union. To our 'aid' (not on a white charger but with a retinue carrying brown boxes) comes one Pat Rabbitte. The brown boxes contained election literature and envelopes - and note that
this was in an era where you had to lick eack envelope, no self-seal; the intrepid Rabbitte et al thought that we would get busy, as
part of our strike, in getting his bloody election chances boosted! I reminded Rabbitte of that incident 30 July 2005 at a presence
outside the Dáil on the day after the Rossport 5 were jailed by order of Shell; his reply - 'You've a good memory'!

On 10 Nov 2006 we were batoned to bejasus by the cops (I reserve the nomenclature of Gárdaí for the few decent ones in the force)
on the country roads at Ballinaboy; this attack led to a loss of nerve/genuine concerns by some people (not me) which led to the cancellation of the next Day of Action planned for later that month. With 20/20 hindsight that was a mistake. Please be advised NOT
to let that happen to you.

We have kept going for the past ten years down here, first as a local health, safety, environment campaign then, as we learned about the truly awful giveaway of our natural resources, a national campaign as well. We - men, women (many elderly) and children have experienced the rotten underbelly of this State since the cops moved in Oct '06 to be followed by mad bad mercenary Shell goons.

We have withstood that pressure and are still fighting, not for personal gain but in the common good. The only message the current
State recognises is an iron fist - it's what the banks and oil companies have put to effective use for themselves.

Peaceful protest is naturally welcomed by those in power; EFFECTIVE protest is another matter.

Go for it, keep it up and make it work - the fight for your future belongs to all of us and we continue to do our bit here.

I keep being told that USI president Gary Redmond is in Fianna Fail. But I can't find any evidence of it. The recent Phoenix Magazine article makes no mention of it, and in fact it quotes him attacking Fianna Fail.
The Phoenix article is well worth a read by the way: http://www.indymedia.ie/article/98088

Funny that we have to go to the Sindo for some truth. The Irish Times was the most conservative - of the broadsheets at any rate. Their Saturday edition repeated the same nonsense as Thursday's paper did: no mention of student injuries or Garda batons being used. Just repeated references to eirigi and SWP flags, as though that was all you needed to know.

FF and the Gardai surfers must have flagged this youtube video as inappropriate to stop people watching it as much. You need to open a youtube account to view it.

so now you can see wikileaks "collateral murder" and a black hawk shooting people to death on youtube without signing in but you can't see the garda battering students unless you have a youtube account.
Also this means you can be more effectively tracked when you view it.

So obviously watching the cops bash a few rich people's kids on a small island is perceived as being more threatening and destabilising to the status quo than watching the shooting of a bunch of brown people with high calibre machine guns from a helicopter in Afghanistan.

Just watching the "peacefull" student protests on sky news... the police were forced into a softly softly approach after G2 and the students wrecked the place.. fairly violent stuff... now the public are crying out against the police who let this happen and why they did'nt prevent the thousands of pounds of damage... they are demanding the met cheifs head over his officers inaction.... !!! TAKE NOTE !!!

Yesterday in London, 50,000 students marched, confronted police, entered conservative party HQ, smashed windows, occupied roof, lit fires in streets... Against a 3 fold hike in fees, in some cases forcing students to pay 9000 English pounds for 1 year at university.